


Archer: Part 1

by AuroraRoseane



Series: Archer: The Complete Journals of Melanie Collins [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 12:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8750086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraRoseane/pseuds/AuroraRoseane
Summary: Journal entry-type story focusing on OC Melanie Collins and Daryl Dixon. Set after "Spend", Daryl is out recruiting and Melanie is alone after her camp is overrun. Slooooooooooowburn.





	

__ I slowly walked up to him and closed my eyes. I could feel his breath on my face as he got closer. His lips softly touched mine drowning out all the people around us. I didn't care if they were watching. Before I could stop it, a tear slid down my cheek and he pulled away from me.  
"Please don't cry, I'll be back soon," he whispered. I opened my eyes and saw him staring back at me, just as he had done when he first told me he loved me. He pulled me into a tight hug and put his mouth to my ear.  
"I love you." He pulled away then and I gushed tears. He started to back away towards the gate and he blew me a kiss before he turned around, and then he was gone. "I love you, too," I whispered.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

September 13, 2015

He didn’t come back. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t, and yet I hoped. They brought me his knife back. It was all they could grab as they we’re trying to get away. As those things were feeding on his body. Nate is gone. He’s gone forever.

I’m all alone now.

 

* * *

September 14, 2015

The camp was overrun today. People scattered and screaming, blood everywhere. I don’t know if anyone else got out. I barely did.

Samuel had gotten bit on the run yesterday. At least I think it was him. He was the only one acting sketchy rather than sad. 

He didn’t tell anyone and died overnight. He rose again and ate his wife, moving on to others. I awoke to screaming. It only drew in more of them, out of the woods like the mist rolling in. I saved who I could before I had to run, but I don’t know if any of them got away from the slaughter. I’ll see who I can track once the sun comes up.

I thought I was alone yesterday. This is worse.

 

* * *

September 16, 2015

I’ve spent the last two days following a trail of footprints I picked up outside the wreckage of the camp. Most of the dead had already moved on and I was able to scavenge some more supplies. I grabbed Nate’s knife, now permanently sheathed on my side, and the rest of the arrows for my bow. I didn’t bother with a tent. I won’t need one if it’s just me.

The tracks lead me to another pile of blood and flesh. It was impossible to tell who it had been. They were the only signs of life I’d seen outside the camp. 

I must be it. It must just be me.

 

* * *

September 21, 2015?

I think that’s today’s date. I’m already losing track. Celia was always better at it than me. I watched as she was being torn apart eight days ago. Knowing the date didn’t help her much.

I found a small cabin to stay in for awhile. It’s fairly run down, hadn’t been touched long before things went to shit. But the roof is stable and the floors are dry. It will work for now.

I caught a rabbit yesterday, and three squirrels. I have enough canned food to last awhile if I need it to, but fresh meat is always nice. I’m going to try to make jerky out of what’s left after I eat tonight. Nate was trying to show me how. Our next lesson was set for when he got back.

Guess I’ll have to learn on my own.

 

* * *

September 23, 2015?

I had to leave the cabin after just a night. I was trying to figure out the jerky thing when three of them snuck up behind me. I must be losing my touch. I didn’t hear them until they were within 10 feet of me. I barely had enough time to react. 

After disposing of those three, though, I sensed more and made a run for it. I grabbed my bag and my bow and set off towards the east. At least I think this is east. Nate was always better at this. I’ve got the brain, but you’ve got the aim, he’d say.

I thought if anything, I’d be the one to go first. That I’d never have to live without him. He knew so much more about all this than I did. I know nothing without him. I miss him so much.

 

* * *

October 2015?

It never used to bug me when I didn’t know the date. Now I can’t stand not knowing. It drives me insane. I’m not entirely sure how much time has passed. I don’t know how long I’ve been alone. Too long, that much I can say.

I haven’t seen another human in weeks. Just the dead and twice dead. Haven’t spoken. I’m not sure I even could, if I tried. My throat feels scratchy constantly, no matter how much water I drink. Maybe my voice will disappear completely, without use. Maybe I won’t ever find a reason to use it again.

 

* * *

October 2015?

It’s starting to cool down more and more as the nights pass. I’ve been moving east and I think I’ve made it into Pennsylvania, finally. Perhaps I should go south now, though, as winter comes on. I’ve never been a fan of snow and certainly not of the cold. I’m going to need to find some warmer clothing. And a place to lie low.

It’ll need to be sturdy, with a fireplace and maybe a cellar. Something deep in the woods. But close to a town or two if I need supplies. Hopefully I can collect enough beforehand so that I don’t have to venture out far.

It’s been at least a month that I’ve been on my own. I miss Nate. I wish he’d never left me.

 

* * *

November 2015?

It has to be November by now, right? It’s certainly cold enough. November. So long without…people. I’ve heard that you can go insane from solitude. I’m sure there was some kind of scientific proof to it. Is that my future? I’m sure that I’m not the only one left. I can’t be. Not on a planet of seven billion. But who knows when I will see someone again.

I think I’ve found a place. An old one-roomed hunting cabin with nothing more than a stone fireplace, an industrial sink, and a musty army cot. It’s not much but it will keep me warm and them out.

I need to start stocking up on supplies. Blankets, food, a new pair of boots. Maybe some hunting gear. I could make this place a home for the winter, and a refuge in the summer.

 

* * *

November 2015?

I dream of him at night. Or whenever it is that I can trust myself to sleep. I dream of his hands the most, grasping mine or ghosting over my skin. Sometimes he’ll cup my face. But that’s all there is, until I awake.

I found a stream today, about five miles from the cabin. It's not deep, barely reaches my knees, and it's cold. But at least I'll be able to wash up every once in awhile. It'll be nice to be clean again. 

 

* * *

November 2015?

It’s cold. Extremely cold. I don’t remember it being this cold this early on last year. Then again, I didn’t have to worry about anyone or anything seeing the smoke from a fire. There were people on watch for that sort of thing. And now, it’s just me. 

At least I managed to find a few stores that had only been minimally ransacked. I got almost everything I will need for the long winter. I’ll still have to hunt, but I have enough to survive on for a few weeks in case I can’t catch anything.

I need to work on my stock of firewood, however. There has never been a task I hate more than chopping firewood. But it needs to be done.

 

* * *

November 2015?

I’m writing this in a tree. Night is falling and soon I won’t be able to see the page. I was out tracking a doe when I spotted a hoard of them. Hundreds. I barely had time to scale this oak before they caught my scent. 

I’ve never seen so many of them at once, together like this. It’s terrifying.

 

* * *

December? 2015

If I thought it was cold before, I was wrong. I'm not sure how people used to live like this, before. Before indoor heating and water heaters. It seems impossible to me. But perhaps the people of the past were made of stronger stuff. They didn't know the difference, not like us. Like me. 

I boiled some water from the stream to wash up with. It's not a shower but it'll do. I threw my clothes out. No point in keeping them when I'm not even going to try to wash them. I found enough warm clothing when I was out scavenging. 

I'm glad I was able to get enough water as I did though. I'm not sure when I'll be attempting to go back to the stream again. Just putting my hands in the water to fill my containers made them turn to ice.

 

* * *

December? 2015

I had a weird dream last night. There was nothing, just wings. Angel wings. It was strange to say the least.

Food is getting scarce. I haven't been able to catch anything in a few days now. The temperature is dropping more and more. I should've tried going further south before winter hit. 

It's snowing too. More than usual. I think this'll be a storm. I hope I don't get snowed inside. It's not like there's anyone to come and dig me out. 

 

* * *

December? 2015

I've been snowed in for awhile now. At least six days. It's hard to tell when the sky is just so bleak all the time. I'm glad I was able to store up a bunch of food before winter got started. I'm also glad I remembered to bring in all that firewood. 

As you can probably tell, from all those pages filled with doodles and lyrics, I am incredibly bored. I don't know how I used to do this, just sit and be entertained. Probably had something to do with TV or my laptop. But it's not as if I can use those anymore. 

I'm getting stir crazy in this cabin. I hope the snow stops soon.

 

* * *

January? 2016

If my internal clock is anything to go by, I'd say we've moved into the new year. Though I could be wrong. Its likely that's I'm wrong. 

The snow had finally stopped and I've made it outside into he frigid air. Seriously, I can't remember a single time when it was this cold before. 

Though I've been out, I haven't tried hunting yet. I probably will in the morning, if I can coax myself out of my warm little cocoon. I also need to go down to the stream and gets own fresh water, but I have a feeling that it will be frozen over. Anyone up for some ice skating?

 

* * *

January? 2016

It was a mistake. A big one. I shouldn't have tried going so far out from the cabin.

I don't know how it happened. I know I put the fire guard up before I left. I remember doing it. I don't know what happened, but I do know that all of my stored food, all of my warm clothing and blankets, my shelter, is gone now. 

We have at least two more months of winter, if we're lucky. Problem is, no one has been lucky for awhile now. All I have with me now is my bow, my knives and gun, the clothes on my body and the bag on my back. 

I don't know what I'm going to do. 

 

* * *

January/February? 2016

It's been awhile. I've been busy. I had to find somewhere to hole up for a few nights after the fire. The problem with that, is that I cleared out every place within 10 miles. But I stayed in this old trailer for a night before moving on. I was afraid to light a fire, so it was cold. Beyond cold. I didn't sleep much, if at all. 

I almost got bit this morning. There was one of them under a snow bank I walked through, and it grabbed onto me. Scared the living shit out of me. I lost a knife trying to kill it, and when I finally did, I almost walked right into another, that'd hear me fighting off the first. But I got it too. One good thing about the cold is that it makes them slower. Actually, that's about the only good thing about the cold. 

My hand is starting to cramp up now. I need a new pair of gloves. And a hat. Basically a new everything. What I wouldn't give for a Cabela's right about now. 

 

* * *

February? 2016

I think I'm in West Virginia now. Maybe. I entered Shenandoah National Park this afternoon. That's West Virginia, isn't it? I have no clue. I'm a Great Lakes girl, through and through. I couldn't tell you about anything south of Lexington or east of Columbus. Except now I'm apparently in West Virginia. Maybe. 

I think I'm going crazy. I keep seeing things, people. Every time I see one of them, it has the face of someone I once knew. Nate, I see Nate a lot. And my mother. There was one yesterday, just a kid, and I could've sworn it was my brother Kevin. But it couldn't have been because he died two years before any of this, so I must be going crazy. Maybe this solitude is finally getting to me. 

I'm starving. It's been three days since I've eaten anything other than snow and my energies starting to go. I just want to lay down and sleep. Maybe I should. Maybe if I do, and I survive long enough to wake up, it'll mean I'm supposed to. 

But maybe this is just the world's way of saying I'm done. Maybe this is it for me. I don't even know why I'm still writing in this thing. It's not like anyone's ever going to read it.

 

* * *

Late March? 2016

I haven't written because I may have come down with a touch of depression. Scratch that. I was being a chicken shit, and I thought that if I wrote it down, and admitted it, then there would be no going back. But I already passed that point, right?

I tried to kill myself. Twice. Once before and once after. I couldn't go through with it. I guess I still have hope. 

I found some people, after the first time. They must've heard me crying and screaming because they came out of nowhere and grabbed me. They were not nice people. Men, really, there were just men. And two other women who were just like me. But they had given up already, and I couldn't. 

I got away and it was fine, for awhile. I cleaned myself up and started to keep moving, east still. But then, then I. I'm pregnant. And so I tried again, because who would want to have a baby in this fucked up world anyway, but this? So I tried again, but I couldn't do it. 

I had always wanted kids. Loads of them. But never on my own, and never like this. But it's not it's fault, right? It never asked for this. So I'm going to have a baby. Somehow. 

I've taken to calling it Bug. I can't really go on calling it 'it' forever, can I?

 

* * *

April? 2016

There was a man in the woods. I stopped by a creek to gather some water and clean up a bit when he stumbled upon me. Emphasis on the stumbling. I'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but I didn't stick around to find out. He'd barely lowered his crossbow before I was up and outta there.

I took off running and I think he tried following me for awhile, before I lost him. I kept running anyway. I only stopped because it started to get dark and I didn't want to trip over my own feet. I'm holed up in this little house at the edge of a town called Montclair. 

I need to find a map. I'm afraid I'm getting too close to the cities. Too close to people. Clearly I am, if today means anything. I don't know if I can trust people again. Certainly not a man. Maybe I'll be better off if it's just me and Bug. 

 

* * *

April? 2016

I thought I lost him, but I didn't. It took two days but he caught up to me, and there's another man with him. They haven't seen me yet, I don't think, but they know I'm here. They must be skilled trackers because I tried to hide my steps as best as I could. Then again, I was running for my life through unfamiliar territory. So it's possible I didn't do so well as I usually do. 

I'm holed up in an old clock tower. There was no clear way up here, I had to climb up the side of a building and skirt along the roof to get up here. Hopefully it'll be too much of a hassle for them to bother searching it. Maybe they'll just leave.

I really hope they leave. I lost most of my weapons during that and moving throughout the winter. Including my bow. I only have gun with 12 rounds, two knifes and an old machete. The both have long range weapons, the crossbow and a rifle the other man carries. If they get up here I'm royally screwed. 

 

* * *

April? 2016

They're camping out in the store across the street. They must still think I'm around. It'll be dark soon and I'm already regretting trying to climb out of this tower unseen and making a run for it. 

I'm so tired. And so hungry. I haven't eaten in awhile. And it so cold up here. I just want to lay down and go to sleep but I'm afraid that if I do that, I'll never wake up. Can't have that, not with Bug to take care of now. 

Bug. Not eating can't be good for it. In fact I know it isn't. But it's not something I can help. It scares me, more than I ever would have thought. If my baby dies inside me, will it try to eat it's way out?

Which is even more reason for me to get out of here and away from those men. They won't care that I'm tired or cold or hungry, or about Bug. Men in this world only care about one thing when it comes to women, and that is never happening to me again. I'd rather fall and break my neck trying to get out of this clock tower. 

 

* * *

April? 2016

The one with the bow has eagle's eyes. He saw me in the dark, trying to make a run for it. What surprises me is that he didn't make a big deal about it. Just let me get away and then they'd followed me. Who knows, maybe they like the hunt. 

I didn't even notice they were behind me until mid-afternoon, still trailing me though I tried not to leave tracks.

But when I did notice I took off again, as fast as I could. They followed, still, but then we came across a herd of them and I managed to lose them again in the confusion. 

So now I'm hiding in a tree again, just like I did all those months ago. Except now the dead aren't the only thing I'm hiding from. 

 

* * *

April? 2016

Their names are Aaron and Daryl. The got the jump on me early this morning. I tried not to sleep, I really did. But I was just so damn tired. And when I woke up, they were just sitting there, keeping watch. For them or over me I'll never know. 

I haven't spoken a word to either of them and the one with the crossbow, Daryl, hasn't said anything either. Aaron has done all of the talking, introducing them, saying that the mean me no harm, talking about some place that's apparently safe. No where is safe anymore. 

I think he finally got the hint, when I didn't say anything, to stop talking. He stopped and looked towards the bowman, who then headed back into the forest. Just Aaron and I. If this had been before I probably would've trusted him. He's got one of those faces. 

I finally moved to stand, intent on just walking away the way Daryl did. I didn't, however, plan on Aaron also getting up and following me. When I looked back at him to throw him a dirty look he just shrugged and said that Daryl would find us. 

So I started walking the opposite direction the other man went, with another following me much to my chagrin. Somehow I have no doubt that Daryl find us. 

 

* * *

April? 2016

I don't know how he knew. I could tell he was observant but I didn't realize how much.

After walking through the woods for a few hours, thankfully silent, the pair of us heard the snap of a stick and turned towards the noise, guns up. But it was just the bowman, coming towards us with a pair of rabbits slung over his shoulder. 

I continued walking, and they continued following. And I would have kept going. I really would have. If not for the rain. Stupid, stupid rain. The kind of frigid spring rain that burns a little bit when it hits your skin. I hate that kind of rain.

So I had to stop, and I did so when I found a small old gas station. What it’s doing in the middle of the woods, I’ll never know, but it had a roof and four walls so I was set. However my two new companions decided to join me.

They helped me to secure the place without my asking and then I set myself up, as far away from them as possible. Our resident hunter had different plans though.

He set himself up, then went about skinning and cleaning the rabbits, while Aaron lit a small fire. The smell when they started cooking them was intoxicating. And it must have shown on my face because after they were done, Daryl stood up and walked over to me, offering me a good chunk. 

I shook my head, not wanting to be indebted to these men in any way, when he gave me a once over and said, “Ain’t good for tha baby.” 

My mouth literally fell to my feet. 


End file.
